Aequitas and Veritas
by Corvis Greenleaf
Summary: Is helping someone a sin? Can one overlook the things that another does for the sake of love?


**Aequitas and Veritas**

Chapter 1

"Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been 1 week since my last confession." The woman in the dark cramped confessional waited for the nod from the priest before she continued in her hesitant stutter. "I've been keeping something from you, Father. I didn't know if I was right in my thinking or not. Prolly making things more than they are in my head, but I can't shake this one. I think my Connor is up to something. I don't know if my knowing of it is a sin, but I don't know if there's even anything else I can do about it."

"You can't be held accountable in the eyes of the Lord for his sin, child. Have you helped him with this," the Father paused for a moment, he wasn't quite sure from her confession thus far what exactly the sin was. She seemed to understand his hesitance.

"No!" She said quickly. She was quiet for a moment. "No, I haven't directly helped him."

She listened dully as the Father gave her absolution and she exited the confessional, dropping to her knees in the first pew to say her Hail Marys. As she prayed she contemplated what she had just confessed to.

She shook her head and rose from the pew. Blessing herself, she walked out into the bustling city, braving the snow and ice to return home.

Connor McMannus pulled the collar of his peacoat higher as he waited for his brother to come down from the apartment above. He sighed and pulled another drag from his cigarette. Saturday night and they weren't going to be passing it in the bar. They had a meeting. Shit, it was cold out here. Conor flicked the butt of his cigarette into the gutter as he heard the loud footfalls that was his brother coming down the stairs.

"Ready?"

"Waiting on you." Connor said, grinning. As much as they took their solemn vow seriously, it was good to like what you did. He felt an awesome vindication about his job, one that he knew his brother felt as well. They did their jobs well, but it seemed that no matter what they killed, who they dispatched, someone was always waiting in the wings to pick up where the last one left off.

Connor heard coins jingling in his pocket and he knew it was going to be a good night.

The blood splatters contrasted darkly against the white cotton t-shirts that she pulled off the floor. She shoved them into the laundry basket and put the thought out of her mind. There was nothing she could do about it. She hoped the stains would come out, if not, she knew they would disappear. Usually they did before she even got to them. Maggie was no fool, she didn't ask questions.

"Morning, Love." Came a muffled voice from the corner of the room. She stopped what she was doing for a moment and pulled her thoughts from where they had been.

"You're up early." She said. "Short night?"

"Connor pulled himself from the bed and tried to mush down his hair. "Yeah."

She finished putting the clothes in the basket and shoved it next to the door. She would take them down to the washer later. She heard creaking of bedsprings from the other room and knew that Connor's brother was awake as well. She called out to him, "Breakfast's on the table. Help yourself."

Connor had rose and was going through his closet for something decent to wear. Church was less than an hour away. She watched as he pulled clothes out and threw them onto the bed. "I'll take a shower and then we can go." He gave her a small kiss as he moved around her to the small bathroom that the brothers shared.

She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee and sat across from Murphy at the table. He was already eating from a plate that was stacked high with food. "Amazing." He said to her, covering his full mouth and grinning. She smiled back.

"I try." And she did. There wasn't anyone that she had ever met that treated her the way the brothers had. She knew that winning over Murphy was a good start to her and Connor's relationship. What little they seemed to have. He worked hard though, long hours. But the time that he did make for her was quality. She never wanted anything when he was around, he paid her attention, listened to her and was fiercely loyal.

It was for these reasons that she could ignore a lot of the questionable things about his life.

Behind every good man there was a good woman.

It was one of the reasons she wondered if she was doing the right thing by staying with Connor. She knew the work he was in wasn't as good as she pretended it was. She had long internal debates over what she was doing, but there was never enough evidence against Connor for her to make an assumption about what he did.

She watched Murphy as he traded places with Connor and went for the shower. Connor took over the plate where his brother left off and smiled at her, reaching his hand out to take hers as he shoveled food into his face.

"Thank you." He said, grinning.

Maggie didn't know how to reply, as she felt that every action she made lost her favor with what she thought were good morals. She smiled simply and nodded, wondering if she even wanted answers to her questions when he was so good to her.


End file.
